hello I am very new to this forum, but I thought I would add my bit. We have a rescue Newf,Zuess,which we changed to Zack, who was thought of as agressive. He was very loud when we first picked him up. And I must admit I was a little unsure when he walked up to us with a toy bear in his mouth making a growling sound. But my Hubby told him what a beautiful bear he had and the growling sound increased and the tail wagged and he looked so pleased with himself. We now realise it is not an agressive growl at all. He was quite agressive at his previous owners place. But he was an outside dog in a very small backyard and no time with the people at all. Any playing they did must have been as a puppy and very rough. We have had to teach him that rough play is not acceptable. When we first brought him home he was very loud and barked a lot. Especially at our horses. But our horses are used to newfs and ignored him and he now just loves to come out and feed the horses and clean the barn/yards. It has taken time and firm handling and we have socialized him with lots of dogs and people under supervision. Now he is very friendly and social and just loves being an inside dog with his Newfy "sister", Abbey and Nugget the Aust. Kelpie.He hates swimming and will only go in the water up to his chest. We have days at the river where there will be about six labs and our two newfs plus the kelpie and he just loves to be out and about and play with everyone. He still does the growling thing with the stuffed toys, but he happily shares them with the other dogs, so we think that it is just showing off. So I suppose what I am sort of saying,long winded sorry, is that the dog might not be aggresive in a different environment with different people.
